The present invention relates to an ophthalmologic apparatus, and particularly to an ophthalmologic apparatus for judging a state of a dry eye from the result of measurement of optical characteristics of a subject eye obtained by using a wavefront sensor.
Conventionally, as an ophthalmologic apparatus relating to a dry eye, techniques as described below can be enumerated.
Publication of unexamined patent application JP-A-6-277179 discloses an ophthalmologic measurement apparatus for quantitatively measuring fluorescence intensity from a cornea and a tear film of a subject eye in which a specified fluorescer is dropped. Publication of unexamined patent application JP-A-7-136120 discloses an ophthalmologic apparatus in which a color image of an interference pattern due to the interference of reflected lights of the front surface of a lipid layer and the back surface thereof is observed, so that the state of the lipid layer of the subject eye, the state of flow of tear fluid, and the like can be known, and a simple diagnosis of a local dry eye can be easily performed in a non-contact manner. Besides, publication of unexamined patent application JP-A-8-52112 discloses an ophthalmologic tear fluid observation apparatus in which only a signal light reflected from a tear film of a subject eye is incident on a CCD, so that vignetting does not occur in an observation visual field, and a clear tear fluid interference pattern without interfering light can be observed in the wide observation visual field.
However, it can not be necessarily said that the conventional ophthalmologic apparatus used in the clinic of the dry eye sufficiently satisfies requests relating to the judgment of the state of the dry eye.